Refrigeration



Dec. 14, 1937. J. c. CHAMBERS REFRIGERAT ION Original Filed May 16, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheei 1 W I) 7 To BY 2 W ATTORNE Dec. 14, 1937. J c CHAMBERS 2,102,354

REFRIGERATION Originl Filed May 16, 1933: 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Deco 1% 1937 1 ,3,5

UETE @T g FAEN Jewel (D. Chamhers, Dayton, @hic, assignor, hy inesne assigents, to General Motors iflcrpc ration, a corporation of Delaware Applicatien May 16,1933, Serial Ne. $311,314 Renewed April 209, 1937 5 ill. (CH. 6)

This invention relates to refrigeration and valve it from whence the ended refrigerant more particularly to an apparatus and method flows to one or more of the evaporators, in this for conditioning air or other fluids. case to the evaporators it?) and lid. The evap- It is among the-objects of this invention to proorated refrigerant from these evaporators revide an apparatus for conditioning air or other turns through the suction line it to the intake 5 fluids in a simple and eficient manner, in such of the refrigerant liquefying unit in a closed clra way that an apparatim of any desired capacity culating cycle. The other of the refrigerant may be constructed of unitary refrigerating liquefying units 8% delivers liquid refrigerant structures of smaller size through the line 2ft to the expansion valve 29;, l0 Further objects and advantages of the present from whence the expanded refrigerant flows to l0 invention will be apparent from the following one or more of the evaporators 35a. and 850, from description, reference being had to the accomwhence the refrigerant returns through the suc= panying drawings, wherein a preferred form of tion line 22 to the intake of the refrigerant lique the present invention is clearly shown. firing unit itb thus forming another closed re- In the drawings: frigerant circulating cycle which is separate'from Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an the closed cycle of unit the. apparatusembodying features of my invention; The refrigerant liquefying units itc and it?) Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the are provided with means whereby one unit may line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and r operate independently of another unit. To this Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a end, a thermostat 23 is placed in the re ii 20 slightly modified form of apparatus. which operates a snap switch which governs the An apparatus embodying features of my inflow of electric current through the motor 2d of vention includes in general a conduitor passagethe refrigerant liquefying unit itb. The motor way id for circulating air or other fluids to be it drives the compressor 25 which in turn de- 5 conditioned for the enclosure or room i l. Preflivers compressed refrigerant through the line 28 25 erably the air is circulated from the room through to the condenser receiver 2?. If the condenser an intake conduit i2, and is discharged into the receiver 27 is water -cooled, a proper automatic room through the conduit it, the circulation of control for governing the flow of water through air being accomplished by means of a fan it. the condenser (not shown) is provided, which The passageway iii is provided with an evapoautomatic control is governed in accordance with 0 rator structure 85 which includes a plurality of the operation of the liquefying unit, as is well evaporators lea, iSb, lee, 55d, etc. These evapknown in the art. Another thermostat 28 is pro orators may be of standard or selected unitary vided in the room ii, and this thermostat operdimensions, and a sufilcient number of evapoates a snap switch which governs the electric rators may be used to provide sumcient refrigcurrent flowing through the motor 29 which in 35 crating capacity for cooling the air in the room turn operates the compressor 3d. Compressed I I refrigerant is delivered through the line 3! to the The evaporator-s are placed edge to edge across condenser receiver 32 in a. manner similar to that the passageway i0 and preferably extend only described with respect to refrigerant liquei'ying -40 partially across, leaving a fixedair by-pass flea. unit ltb. Thus the thermostats 23 and 28 govern 40 The evaporators l5a, 15b, I50, I W, 'etc., may the operation of the refrigerant liquefying units beconnected with aplura'lity of refrigerant lique 96a and Itb independently of each other, and i'ying units Ito and Nb, the number and size of this action in turn governs or varies the refrigerthe units I60, and Nib being suiiicientto provide ating effect of the evaporators Illa, lib, I50 and the necessary refrigerating capacity in the evap- 45d, in such a man th t e r ri e ati 5 orators. Preferably each of the refrigerant liqueapacity of at least one f the e c o a s i iling units Ma and I6?) are connected to one or independent of the refrigerating capacity of at more of the evaporators, so that at least one of least another of said evaporators. the refrigerant liquefying units is in a closed re- Preferably the thermostats 23 and 28 are so.

frigerant circulating cycle which cycle includes calibrated that when the temperature 01' the 50 one or more of the evaporators and is separate room ii is lowered to a. certain predetermined from the closed refrigerating cycle or cycles of limit one or more of the refrigerant liquefyinganother of the refrigerant liquefying units. Thus units is stopped with a consequent variation of the refrigerant liquefying unit I 60. delivers liquid the refrigerating capacity or' effect of its conrefrigerant r gh he ine 11 to an m sii l n tted evaporator or evaporators; and when the .units' may be stopped, step temperature of the room II is still further lowered another one or more of the units is stopped with a consequent variation of the (refrigerating capacity or effect of its connected evaporator or evaporators; and thus, the refrigerant liquefying by step, as the temperature drops in the room ll until all of the units are stopped. Conversely, as the temperature rises in the room II the units are started step by step until all of the units are operating. Thus the refrigerating capacity or effect of the evaporator structure I! is varied in accordance with the refrigeration requirements of room II.

An advantage of this arrangement is that the heat absorbing capacities of the evaporators and the refrigerant liquefying capacity of the installation are balanced at all times. By providing individual liquefying units for each set of evaporator surfaces, it is possible to maintain the evaporator surfaces at the proper temperatures, which in the case of an air conditioning installation, preferably are above 32 F. and below the normal dew point'of the air to be conditioned.

The thermostats 23, 28, and others if desired,

may be grouped together at one zone in the room I I, but sometimes it may be desirable to place one or more of the thermostats at various parts of the room separate from the rest, particularly placing one or more in a zone where an abnormal rise in temperature is likely to occur during a part of the day. Thus if one side of the roomis likely to be subjected to the direct rays of the sun durin part of the day, one or more of the thermostats may be placed at that side or zone to insure some refrigeration notwithstandingthat the remainder of the room does not require it.

Means may be provided for introducing fresh air into thev room or enclosure II. This means may be independent of the air circulating means heretofore described or it may be incorporated therein. In Fig. 1 this fresh air intake is independent of the air circulating means heretofore described. Thus a fresh air intake 33 communicating with the exterior of the building is provided with a fan 39 driven by an electric motor 35. The electric motor "may be operated by a hand switch or humidistat 36. If the control )6 is a humidistat," the setting-may be so calibrated that when the relative humidity rises above a predetermined limit, the fan 34 will be caused to start or to increase its speed, and when the humidity falls below a predetermined limit the fan would be caused to stop or decrease its speed. Thus the'fan 34 is made responsive to relative humidity conditions in the room H, which, in turn, depend to a large extent upon the number of people in the room. If desired hand dampers ll may be provided as an alternative or in addition for governing the amount of fresh air introduced into the room I I.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3, similar parts are numbered with similar numbers except that I" has been added. The operation of the evaporators, refrigerant liquefying units and main fans 14 and H4 are substantially the same, but the fresh air intake has been made dependent on the air conditioning system. To this end, the fan H4 is placed on the outlet of the air conditioning passageway Ill, and fresh air inlet III .is connected to the suction side of the fan Ill. As shown in' full line in Fig. 3, fresh air conduit I Il may be connected between the air conditioning conduit l l and the fan, or, as shown in dotted lines, the fresh air conduit I" may be connected to the intake side of the air cond ioning' conduit. In either construction, a damper IE! or ll may be placed in the fresh air conduit, and this damper may be manually operable or automatically operable. If automatically operable, the damper may bemoved or controlled by a humidistat I52 which opens and closes the damper in accordance with relative humidity conair inlet and a recirculated air inlet for air to beconditioned for said enclosure, air blowing means for circulating air through said air flow means, a pluralityof refrigerant evaporators in said air flow means, refrigerant liquefying means connected to said evaporators, means automatically rendering inactive the evaporation of refrigerant in one of said-evaporators while evaporation remains active in another of said evaporators in accordance with conditions in said enclosure and balancing the liquefying capacity of said liquefying means, whereby the active refrigerant temperature remains substantially constant.

2. In an air conditioning apparatus, an enclosure, air flow means for'air to be conditioned for said enclosure, air blowing means connected to said air flow means, a plurality of refrigerant evaporators in said air flow means, refrigerant liquefying means connected to said evaporators, control means automatically rendering inactive the evaporation of refrigerant in a number less than all of said evaporators while evaporation remains active in the remaining evaporator or evaporators in accordance with conditions in said enclosure, the construction and arrangement being such that when said evaporators operate together they operate at a temperature to avoid freezing moisture from air on said evaporators, and when said number less than all of said evap- ,drators is rendered inactive the remaining evaporator or evaporators are balanced with said liquefying means to operate at a temperature to avoid freezing moisture from air thereon.

3. In an air conditioning apparatus, an enclosure, air flow means for air to be conditioned for said enclosure, air blowing means connected to said air flow means, an inlet for introducing fresh air into said apparatus, a recirculated air inlet, a plurality of refrigerant evaporators in said air flow means, refrigerant liquefying means connected to said evaporators, control means automatically rendering inactive the evaporation of refrigerant in a number less than all of said evaporators while evaporation remains active in the remaining evaporator or evaporators in accordance with conditions in said enclosure, the construction and arrangement being such that when said evaporators operate together they operate at a temperature to avoid freezing moisture from air on said evaporators, and when said number less than all of said evaporators is rendered inactive the remaining evaporator or evaporators are balanced with said liquefying means to operate at a temperature to avoidfreezing moisture from air thereon.

\ 4. In an air conditioningapparatus. an enclosure. air flow means for air to be conditioned for said enclosure, air blowing means connected to said air flow means, a plurality of refrigerant evaporators in said air flow means arranged for the flow of air in parallel in thermal contact with said evaporators, refrigerant liqueiying means connected to said evaporators, control means automatically rendering inactive the evaporation of refrigerant in a number less than all of said evaporators while evaporation remains active in the remaining evaporator or evaporators in accordance with conditions in said enclosure, the construction and. arrangement being suchthat when said evaporators operate together they operate at a temperature to avoid freezing moisture from air on said evaporators, and when said number less than all of said evaporators is rendered inactive the remaining evaporator or evaporators are balanced with said'liquefyingmeans to operate at a temperature to avoid freezing moisture from air thereon.

5. In an air conditioning apparatus, an enclosure, air fiow means for air to ,be conditioned for said enclosure, air blowing means connected to said air flow means, a plurality of refrigerant evaporators in said air flow means, refrigerant liquefying means including a plurality of compressors connected to said evaporators, control means automatically rendering inactive theevaporation of refrigerant in a number less than all of said evaporators while evaporation remains active in the remaining evaporator or evaporators in accordance with conditions in said enclosure, the construction and arrangement being such that when said evaporators operate together they operate at a temperature to avoid freezing moisture from air on said evaporators, and when said number less than all. of said evaporatorsis rendered inactive one of said compressors is rendered inactive and the remaining evaporator or evaporators are balanced with said liquefying means to operate at a temperature to avoid freezing moisture from air thereon.

JEWEL C. CHAIMBERS. 

